FOR SALE — I HAVE for sale a small fine collection of Indian relics suitable for an advanced collector; small spears and other pieces for retail. I have no cheap trash at all, two spinning wheels, two Kentucky rifles. — H.L. Johnson, Clarksville, Tenn.

FOR SALE — One of the finest U.S.A. Butterfly Collections. Value exceeding $1,500.00. For the sacrifice price of $200.00. An exceptional opportunity for collectors. M. Deschl, 135 West 42nd Street, New York City.4

BEAUTIFUL collection of German War money, 525 all different new bills, some very rare, mounted in album. Will exchange for used Zeppelin stamps or foreign airmail on or off cover. — W.H. Peters, 48-29 58th Lane, Woodside, New York City.

Footnotes1. An advertisement from the December 1944 issue of Hobbies was featured in this recent post.
2. Hobbies must have made a ton of money on these classified advertisements. The "FOR SALE" rate was five cents per word. The rate went down if you wanted your advertisement to appear in multiple issues. So, for example, it was only two cents per word for 12 issues. So, a 20-word advertisement appearing in 12 issues would cost .02 x 20 x 12 = $4.80. That's the equivalent of nearly $80 today.
3. James Hardy did not mess around.
4. In modern dollars, Deschl was offering his $25,000 butterfly collection for $3,300.

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About the Author

I'm Chris Otto, a Pennsylvania resident and journalist whose hobbies and interests include old books, ephemera, history, folklore, alpacas, photography and much more. Never stop reading, learning and asking questions! I consider this blog to be a spiritual descendant of Microsoft Encarta and a companion to Wikipedia. Every piece of paper tells a story.
Reach me at chrisottopa (at) gmail.com.

As (kind of) featured in The New York Times...

Papergreat was mentioned in Stephanie Clifford's August 7, 2011, article in The New York Times titled "Shopper Receipts Join Paperless Age." Find out why, years ago, I held onto a receipt for a hot dog!

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